Fence-stay machine.



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L. ALVERSON'.

`FENCE STAY MACH/INE. APPLICATION FiLED FEB. 5.1M?.

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L. ALvERsoN.

FENCE STAY MACHlNE.

APPLICATION FiLED FEB. 5, |917.

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NIIED srArEs. PATENT oEEIoE.

itnwrs ALVERSON, or DALLAS, TEXAS, AssIGNon To MARTIN o. snoer, 0E sT. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

FENCE-STAY MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. *7, 1919.

Application filed February 5, 1917. Serial No. 146,687.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, LEwIs ALvERsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dallas, in the county of Dallas and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful llmprovements in Fence-Stay Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to a machine for making wire fence stays.

rlhis invention relates more particularly to a machine for making fence stays wherein a revolving tubular member is arranged to receive internally one portion of a straight or substantially straight wire and wherein the machine is provided with means for coiling the remaining portion of the wire around the tubular member and hence around the straight portion of the wire within the tubular member.

While I have, in the present application, embodied in my improved machine, these elements in substance, the main objects of my present invention may be summarized as follows:

First, to so reorganize and rearrange Certain of the parts ofthe machine that the same may be more compact and better adapted for transportation from place to place as required.

Second, to so change and rearrange the driving mechanism of the machine that the machine may be operated from the front instead of from the end, as heretofore, whereby a saving in length of the machine as well as a simplification of parts of the driving mechanism may be secured; and

Third, to provide in the machine a new arrangement and construction of parts constituting the means whereby the carriage at the end of its positive movement in one direction will disconnect the carriage driving mechanism from the gear revolving the tu` bular member to permit of the tension or spring means operating to returnthe car riage to its normal or initial position.

rlfhe nature and scope of my invention will be more fully understood from the follow-` ing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, in which Figure 1 is a top or plan view of a machine embodying the main features of my invention;

Fig.` `2 is a front elevational view, partly sectioned, of the same;

`Fig. 3 is an end elevational view, partly in section, illustrating in detail the clutch mechanism for connecting the driving gear with the chain for positively moving the carriage in one direction; and

Fig. l is a detail view of the tubular member and stay disconnected from the machine.

Referring to the drawings 1 representslthe base of the machine formed of any suitable material and hollowed out as at 2 to receive the spring or tensioning means for returning the carriage 3 to its initial or normal position. The carriage 3 slides back and forth upon a bar or frame l supported at either end by the brackets or standards 5 and 6 respectively, which project upward from and are fixed to the upper face of the base 1 of the machine. The rear standard 6 forms a bearing for a stub shaft 7 having a sprocket wheel 8, and the bracket 5 forms a bearing for a shaft 9 on which is secured a miter gear wheel 10 operated preferably by acrank or handle 11 or by any suitable power-driven .means if desired.

The miter gear Wheel 1() is always in mesh with a similar but smaller gear wheel 12, secured to one end of a tubular member 13,the member 13 revolving when the miter gear 12 turns in a bearing formed in the bracket 5 and in the carriage 3 which the tubular member 13 traverses.

The shaft 9 carries a collar 14 outside the bearin in standard 5, and this colla-r is arrangec to be locked to a clutch sleeve 15, which sleeve is arranged to turn loosely ou the shaft 9 when not so locked and to slide longitudinally on said shaft to engage with or disengage from the collar 14. A preferred form of locking means between the sleeve 15 and collar 14ris constituted by a pin 16 on sleeve 15 entering a recess of the collar 14.

The sleeve 15 is provided with an extension 17 which carries a sprocket wheel 18 and a chain 19 connects the two sprocket wheels 8 and18 together. The carriage 3 is provided with a clip 3EL which secures the carriage 3 to said chain 19. ltfollows that when the sleeve 15 with its sprocket 1S is locked to shaft 9 and said shaft is turned, the chain 19 in revolving will draw the car riage 3 along the guide bar or frame 4 a'nd alonthe tubular member 13 toward the brac et or standard 5.

YTo hold the sleeve 15 with its extension 17 and sprocket wheel 18 in lockingengagement with collar 14 during the driving of the chain 19 and the movement of the carriage toward bracket 5, there is provided a tubular cap 20 splined to the shaft 9 and adapted to be pushed inward on the shaft to bear against the extension 1.7 of sleeve 15 and to slide outward on said shaft when the clutch sleeve 15 is withdrawn from locking engagement with the collar 14.

The means for disconnecting the clutch sleeve 15 from collar 14 consists, as very clearly shown in Fig. 1, of a wedge-shaped pin or bolt 21 sliding in a bracket 22 arranged on the standard 5 adjacent to the collar 14. A coiled spring 23 normally holds said bolt 21 in retracted position in the bracket 22, or away from the junction between collar 14 and sleeve 15. The bolt 21 has a rod 24 projecting through bracket and beyond the same into the path of the approaching. carriage 3. The carriage at the limit of its movement toward standard 5 impinges on the rod 24 and thus forces bolt 21 into the joint between collar 14 and sleeve 15 to thereby disengage the sleeve from the collar and hencefrom the shaft 9. The'spring 23 will retract bolt 21 after the carriage 3 has been drawn backward to its initial or starting point. The sleeve 15 may thereafter be brought into locking engagement with the collar 14 by pushing the tubular cap 2O inward on the shaft 9.

The means for retracting the carriage 3 comprises the cord 30 attached at one end to the carriage 3 and passing over successive pulleys 31, 32 and 33 and then attached at its other end to the base of the machine. Pulley 33 is attached to one end of a coiled spring 34, the other end of the spring 34 being attached to the base 1 of the machine. When the carriage advances on its guide way, the cord 30 extends the spiral spring 34, but when the clutch sleeve 15 and its sprocket are released from shaft 9, the cord 30 under iniuence of the spring 34 will retract the carriage 3. On the guide bar 4 is arranged a buffer 35 which acts as a stop to limit the return movement of the carriage 3. The buffer 35 has a ringshaped extension 36 with a slot 37. The end of the member 13 revolves within the extension 36 and the wire 40 of the stay is drawn back from the end of tubular member 13 through the slot 37 and threaded through a recess 41I in carriage 3 at the initial movement of the machine. 'Io prevent rotation of the straight portion of the stay inside the tubular member the wire 40 is bent backward in a V-shaped notch 42 formed in the end of member 13 before the wire is passed through the carriage 3.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a. fence stay machine, a tubular member arranged to receive a portion of a straight wire, a carriage adapted to be ad vanced along the exterior of said tubular member to coil the remaining portion of the wire around said member, a. means for revolving said tubular member comprising a shaft, a miter gear fixed to said shaft, and a miter gear on the tubular member meshing with said miter gear of the shaft, and a means for advancing the carriage comprising a sprocket wheel detachably locked to said shaft, a second sprocket arranged at the end of the machine opposite to the shaft. a chain traveling over said sprockets, and a clip connecting the carriage with said chain.

2. In a fence stay machine, a tubular niember arranged to receive a portion of a straight wire, al carriage adapted to be advanced along the exterior of said tubular member to coil the remaining portion of the wire around said member, a means for revolving said tubular member comprising a shaft, a miter gear fixed to said shaft, and a miter gear on the tubular member mesh ing with said miter gear of the shaft, and a means for advancing the carriage comprising a sprocket wheel detachably locked to said shaft, a second sprocket arranged at the end of the machine opposite to the shaft, a chain traveling over said sprockets, and a clip connecting the carriage with said chain. in combination with means controlled by the carriage whereby at the end of the advancing movement of the carriage said first sprocket is relased from the shaft.

3. In a fence stay machine, a driven shaft, a tubular member, intermediate gearing von necting the member with said shaft and arranged to revolve said member as said driven shaft revolves, a collar revolving with said shaft, a sleeve loosely surrounding said shaft and arranged to be detachably locked to said collar, a wedge-shaped bolt arranged to separate the sleeve from said collar. a sprocket wheel carried by said sleeve, a chain operated by the sprocket wheel when said sprocket wheel revolves with the sleeve. and a carriage carried by the chain and adapted to be advanced on the tubular member when said sprocket chain revolves, in combination with a spring-controlled pin carried by the bolt and extending into the path of the carriage.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

LEWIS ALVERSCN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

. Washington, ID. C. 

